About APC Women’s Networking Support Program (APC WNSP)

“Women’s access to information and technology has historically been marginal. Harnessing the power of both is a critical step in developing a genuine culture of gender equality.” (Anriette Esterhuysen, Director of the South African NGO computer network SANon Governmental OrganizationNeT)APC WNSP: HistoryAPCWomen’s Networking Support Program (APC WNSP) is “a global network of women who support women networking for social change and women’s empowerment, through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs)”APC WNSP: About. Its aim is promoting gender equality in all the dimensions of the use of ICTs, from developing to accessing them.

History

TheAPCWomen’sNetworkingSupport Program (APC WNSP) was launched in 1993, facing the need for this kind of initiative, the Gender gap in terms of ICTs use growing bigger. In particular, the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women (UNWCW) highlighted the need to develop the access of women to computers in order to lobby and prepare for this conference. The participation of women in the civil society could not happen without Internet and new technologies. The access to ICTs was thus perceived as crucial to insure gender equality and make the activism of women be more efficient

About APC

TheAssociation for ProgressiveCommunication is both a network and an organisation aiming to develop the use of networks, organisations and individuals to ICTs, in order to insure “equitable human development, social justice, participatory political processes and environmental sustainability”. Their action focus on the local level, the most appropriate field to develop access to ICTs.

Examples of APC WNSP’s achievements

APC WNSP participated in the creation of several regional and national support programmes such as APC-Women and African Economic Development-Women, Women’sNet (South Africa), Feminismus (Czech Republic), FAMAfrique (Francophone Africa) and Womenshub (Philippines).

Since 2003, a strong partnership has been developed with Asian organisations, with who they created the Women’s Electronic Network Training workshop (WENT). WENT trained 135 women from 18 countries of the region. In front of the success of this initiative, APC WNSP launched a similar project in Women and African Economic Development in 2003.

In 2003 and 2005, the APC WNSP and GKP Gender and ICT Awards were granted in order to celebrate projects by women to favour gender equality and women’s empowerment through ICTs.

Major initiatives

Take Back the Tech!

Take Back the Tech! is a 16-day campaign, taking place each year to make girls and women “take control of technology to end violence against women”Take Back the Tech!’s website. From November 25 to December 10 each year, one action a day is suggested to reach this objective on Take back the Tech! website. For example, the action suggested for Day 16 in 2010 was “Break the silence | Document violence”. Several tools are offered on the website, such as banners and logos, digital postcards, a campaign kit and diverse tips to help everybody who is interested to share the campaign around them. To know more about Take Back the Tech!: Take Back the Tech!’s website

GenderIT.org

GenderIT.org is an “online policy monitor for gender and ICT issues”APC WNSP: About GenderIT.org. It gives examples to national policies and tools for lobbying to help gender advocates to develop their projects. The platform also hosts a blog, “Feminist Talk”, featuring articles about women and ICTs. To know more about GenderIT.org: GenderIT.org’s website

GEM (Gender Evaluation Methodology)

The Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM) is a “guide to integrating a gender analysis into evaluations of initiatives that use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for social change”All About GEM. It is a tool allowing measuring the effects of the use of ICTs on gender equality and on the lives of women. The GEM tool can be divided into three phases:

Events calendar

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